


subject: names

by transpeterparker (partlycharlie)



Series: pride month 2k19 [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anxiety, Coming Out, Fluff, Gen, I promise, Trans Clint Barton, Trans Male Character, Transgender, i swear yall this is some cute shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 19:32:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19184212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partlycharlie/pseuds/transpeterparker
Summary: hi mr. coulson!i'm really sorry because this email is probably going to be Really Informal but i have a. thing(it's not school related mostly)





	subject: names

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Colder Here Inside in Silence](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18880486) by [TheOceanIsMyInkwell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOceanIsMyInkwell/pseuds/TheOceanIsMyInkwell). 



> fun fact: this is based almost exactly on how i came out to my research teacher my freshman year. (i may or may not have copied the actual email i sent and made a few minor changes)
> 
> warnings for like . idk he comes out its stressful i dunno dude

**From:** [bartone@marvel.edu **  
**](mailto:bartone@marvel.edu) **To:** [coulson@marvel.edu](mailto:coulson@marvel.edu)

**Subject:** names

hi mr. coulson!

i'm really sorry because this email is probably going to be Really Informal but i have a. thing

(it's not school related mostly)

so it's kind of sort of a long story but basically i'm going through a name change??? nobody in this class knows (mostly because nobody bothers to respect my pronouns anyway but i'm not salty :)) but. yeah ?

i would hugely appreciate it if you used my "new" name (new name whatever)(it's clint by the way honestly thank goodness i remembered to write it that would've been hella awkward wowzers) in class? i mean we literally have less than like. a week left of school but still it'd be nice.

you don't have to though - if you'd feel more comfortable sticking to my birth name then that's fine too i guess i don't really care all that much ?? idk

thanks!

\- emma/clint barton

PS. i use he/him in case you were wondering wHOOPS  
PPS. i'm so tired and also very sorry i promise i am actually working on the paper

* * *

Mr. Coulson - Coulson to most of the class, and Boss when Emma’s feeling funny - walks with purpose. It’s just the sort of man he is, really - always impeccably dressed, shoulders back and feet tapping against the hardwood floor.

Emma - Clint, shit, Clint, god it’s hard to remember that - _Clint_ has good eyesight anyway, so it’s not hard to pick the man out in a crowd, but there’s a very distinctive _click_ of his dress shoes that makes it obvious when he’s walking up on you.

This is relevant, for example, for Clint, who just pressed send on a very important email and is kind of shaking in his chair, fingers tapping restlessly against the keyboard in front of him.

He’s so shaken, hidden somewhere in his mind, that he almost doesn’t notice the tell-tale clickety-clack of Coulson’s shoes, heading up the stairs towards his seat perfectly on the outside of the middle row (it’s the epicenter, so to speak, of all four exits).

Before he can school his face into something resembling normalcy (right now it’s sort of frozen in a weird mixture of abject horror and bewilderment), Coulson taps on his shoulder.

Clint looks up, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. “Um.”

“Clint?”

She - he - she - whatever - almost starts crying right there and then.

Holy _shit,_ she definitely had not realized how good it would feel when somebody called him by the right name.

Natasha knows, of course - how could she not - but it’s different. Of course it sounds normal coming from her - nothing she says sounds awkward, literally ever.

But - Coulson? That’s a different fucking story, Jesus Christ.

“Um. Yeah? Yeah, that’s me. Yeah.” His eyes are sweating. Jesus.

Coulson sticks his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says, smiling softly.

Clint shakes his hand, up and down and up and down and up and down, eyes still wide and feeling kind of numb.

His head, not his eyes, that’d be kind of weird.

This whole situation is weird as all hell, who is he kidding?

Coulson bends down, crouching into a squat in the middle of the _fucking aisle._ Clint kind of desperately wants to see if anybody’s looking, but he doesn’t dare turn away. “I just wanted to let you know - I know you must be really nervous about this, and that’s okay. I appreciate you trusting me with this information; I know it must have been hard to send that email.” That would probably be condescending coming from literally anybody else, but from him it sounds ridiculously sincere. “Just - you don't have to worry about my comfort level, okay? It's my job to support you and to call you by your actual name. Regardless of my professional responsibilities, please know that I have your back one hundred percent. Yeah?”

Clint nods, watery. _Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, holy shit._ “Yeah. Thanks, boss.”

Coulson stands back up and grins. “No problem, Clint. Let me know if you need anything.”

 **natashenka:** hey ru ok?

 **clintonf:** wym

 **natashenka:** saw u n coulson talking

Clint can feel Nat’s eyes on him from a few rows behind him, and he rolls his neck back and forth.

 **clintonf:** yeah we’re good  
**clintonf:** sent him the email

 **natashenka** : and?

 **clintonf:** he’s chill with it

 **natashenka:** told u

 **clintonf:** whatever

 **natashenka:** now for the rest of them

 **clintonf:** :)))))))

* * *

 

**From:** [bartone@marvel.edu **  
**](mailto:bartone@marvel.edu) **To:** [coulson@marvel.edu](mailto:coulson@marvel.edu)

**Subject:**  emails

can you help me come up with an email to send to the rest of the teachers that doesn’t sound like i’m on the verge of an anxiety attack?

thanks  
clint

* * *

**From:** [coulson@marvel.edu **  
**](mailto:coulson@marvel.edu) **To:** [bartone@marvel.edu](mailto:bartone@marvel.edu)

**Subject:** Re: emails

Yes, of course.

_Phil Coulson_ __  
_Professor of Forensic Pathology_ _  
_ _Mar-vel University_

**Author's Note:**

> woot woot! hope u enjoyed
> 
> comments make my day i'm off to go take a shower!


End file.
